Social Media Should Be Part Of Your Marketing Campaign

Social Media Marketing should be a part of your Internet Marketing Campaign. But it’s not all about link baiting or viral marketing, which is where a lot of people are confusing Social Media. Link baiting and viral marketing are “big events” in Internet Marketing and not ongoing activities. Your business’ focus should be on the ongoing activities… those “big events” are bonuses.

The most common question businesses have is: “Why should I focus on social media when all the content I need is on my website?” which is a valid question to ask. Working with Social Media involves a shift in thinking that your online strategy needs to be focused in more than one place, not just your website. The traditional thought is that your website is dependent on generating traffic from one source: search engines. Through PPC and SEO, you use the “super highway” of Google, Yahoo and MSN to drive people to your site. But, there is a whole “neighborhood” around you that you need to focus on as well.

If we use a brick and mortar analogy, consider for a moment that your website is your “storefront.” Your storefront gets a lot of walk-in traffic from one road (which would be your SEO and PPC strategy to your website). But, you’re starting to notice that some new neighborhoods have sprung up in the area and contain a demographic that matches your target audience.

What do you do? You wouldn’t sit there hoping your target audiences in these new neighborhoods somehow find out about your store through some random search – you’d look at expanding your business and building more stores in these new locations to meet your audience where they are. The concept of Social Media Optimization is similar. You want your website and message to appear where your audience is congregating online.

Just as in any city, there are good and bad locations for your “storefront” or website. Sometimes, it’s very obvious from your research whether one neighborhood or social media site is better than another. Research is essential! Just like in the brick and mortar world, finding the best social media site for your company depends on your target audience. You don’t want to put yourself into a neighborhood that turns out differently than the way you thought it would.